Nothing makes me block an account quicker than looking at their about page to see that 90% of their comments are “Do you take requests?” Or some variation of it. These people never bother reading any sections on your page that clearly states whether or not you’re actually taking requests. Almost 90% of these people inquire about requests from people who they aren’t following. Once in a while, you’ll find one of these people take offense to being told that you won’t work for free.
And why should you? These people aren’t going to support you financially, nor do they have enough clout to give you extra exposure. If they did, they’d have the art skills to draw their own art.
Sure. They have a lot of page visitors, but how many come from the people they ask requests from?
Luckily, I had one of these people ask that I block them after I informed them that they’ll have to pay $3 for a request. That was a first for me and I’m not too torn up over it Good riddance. There was another individual who initially praised my artwork, but then edited his comment to ask me for a request. Then, he deleted said comment before I had a chance to block him. There was another incident where one requested that I make art which specifically caters to his hand amputation fetish.
All of these incidents made me realize the level of self entitlement you need to have in order to shamelessly ask artists for free artworks. My account, as of writing, has only been around for a few months and already I am dealing with people like this.
Whenever I see anyone inquiring me, or any artist, for free requests I immediately visit their page to see what their activity looks like. First to see if they ever return the favor of requests. Almost 90% of the time, they don’t. They don’t even bother leaving a $1 tip in artist tip jars to say “thanks”. They don’t do any art in return for the favor. They don’t even bother watching any of the artists they demand free artworks from, but think they’re entitled to it all the time.
All you have to do is look at their “about” section to see this behavior out in full force:
I have omitted the usernames of these freeloaders because the point isn’t to call them out individually. Singling them out isn’t either productive or a good look. Instead, the point is to show case the behavior itself. Many of these people aren’t even doing the bare minimum of watching artists, which does say a lot about their behavior.
It’s one thing if they approach you while you temporarily have requests open. Assuming that they are likely your follower if they did so in the first place, because they would take five minutes to read over your page before asking for a request.
Yet, many of the people who demand free art won’t even take the time to read your page to read if you’re taking requests since they’re usually asking 20 other artists at the same time. I’ll be honest, I would have thought that the dawn of AI generated images would have these people occupied and able to generate all the free artwork that they want. I guess AI just isn’t producing what they want specifically.
Art trades can be useful in helping you grow a following, because you are trading with another artist who has their own audience. Said audience might then be curious enough to look at your works. Then, they can choose to follow you. Plus you get some fanart in return, so it isn’t for nothing in return.
Simply granting requests to strangers that aren’t followers of yours will only add the number of artwork for other people to your catalogue at best. It will only attract people looking for free stuff from you.
On the other hand, having limited spots for requests granted for followers only can be a great way to show that you appreciate them. At the moment, I hand out hype badges to my followers so that they can get a little boost in the algorithm. Only downside is that I have to wait a week for my gem allowance to come in before I hand out the hype badges to five random followers.
Doing both brings people back to your page. And those same people are likely to add your most recent works into their favorites, thus helping you gain more visibility. Doing a request for a total stranger just because they came to your page asking doesn’t really help you in the long run.
One thing I notice about a lot of these accounts is that they tend to go for artists perceived as being nice. And by nice, I mean “pushovers that can’t say no”. Usually the artist is a minor or is trying to grow their own following. I don’t say that to be mean or cruel towards the artists; they’re lovely people from what I have observed. Unfortunately, they are being taken advantage of by people who will never support them.
And I’m writing this post to let fellow artists know that, regardless of your skill level, no one is entitled to free labor from you. No one will die if you tell them “no” to their request. Art is a luxury, not an essential need.
I myself have granted requests for my watchers/followers to show my appreciation for their support. Keywords: Watcher and Follower. They are already doing the bare minimum by following me, and helping boost my visibility in the algorithm, which I am appreciative of. I also grant them to people who pay attention to my posts for whenever I announce that watchers will be getting a free request or hype badge so I can help them in the algorithm.
If you happen to be guilty of this behavior, you maybe wondering what you can do to improve.
First of all, make sure you actually do the bare minimum and read everything on an artist’s page. Chances are, if you’re wondering about whether they’ll take requests, they’ll say so on their profiles. If they don’t say it, take it as a preemptive “no” so that you won’t be wasting their (or your) time.
Secondly, don’t be requesting art from artists you don’t watch. It’s rude, for starters, if you’re not even going to do any bare minimums on your end to support said artist. If they’re giving you free artwork, the least you can do is follow them and interact with their works to show any admiration. It’s a bad look all in all to demand something without giving something back in return.
Thirdly, if you’re given one request then be satisfied with one. Don’t get greedy and ask for more unless you intend to compensate the artist in question.
All in all, what I’m saying is don’t be a freeloading dick.
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